Eyes I have known
by nicodiver
Summary: When Merlin suddenly disappears on Arthur's birthday, Arthur is desperate to find his servant but to no avail. Time goes by and one day a wolf appears in Camelot, a wolf with eyes that Arthur recognize... Rated T for Merthur slash in later chapters.   Update: Changed the title from "The party and the beast" to "Eyes I have known".
1. Chapter 1

Merlin woke up, it was his usual waking time, 7:30 AM. Today, he was going to attend to Arthur's annual party, his birthday of course and there were many things to do to please the prince. He was going to muck out the stables, brush and clean the prince's horse until it gleaned, clean the prince's chamber and clean the great hall. But first he was going to help Gaius to collect some herbs the old man needed for a potion which would make the king resist alcohol better. Gaius thought it was a ridiculous request but he must do what the king desired and he had Merlin to help him.

Merlin slowly got up from his bed and yawned loudly, he still wasn't used to this early mornings. He sighed when he thought about his duties today but a small voice said that it may be worth the work, maybe Arthur would reward him with something in his liking... Like a kiss on the cheek? Merlin started to giggle like a lovestruck girl by this thought and he saw Gaius looking worriedly at him.

"What is so funny Merlin?", he asked worried and Merlin just smiled at him.  
>"Nathin', just thinking of something.", Merlin answered.<p>

"Shouldn't you get going to the woods?", Gaius snorted and Merlin nodded, hurried his way out. He went to the stable to borrow a horse. Soon he was out in the woods to collect the herbs, they were kind of hard to find and Merlin tried his best. After two hours, Merlin finally finished collecting the herbs needed and he was about to sit up on his horse when he saw two pair of amber eyes staring at him from the creeping shadows of the trees. Merlin felt a sting of fear in his stomach, he hurried his way up on the horse and rode quickly back to Camelot.

"Thank you very much Merlin for your help." Gaius said thankfully and hugged him.

"Not a problem." Merlin said with a smile and hugged Gaius back, then he gave the old man a concerned look. "Gaius, do you know if there exist wolves out in the forest?" he asked while packing his satchel.

"Wolves? No, there haven't been living wolves here since the last day of Frostfall." Gaius said with anxious eyes and folded his arms.

"But... I thought I saw some amber eyes out in the forest..." Merlin said and frowned.

"You are just tired Merlin. Now hurry away to the prince or he'll scold you!", Gaius said, brushing the wolf subject away and Merlin hurried away to the prince's chambers. This was going to be a long day...

Two hours later Merlin finally was finished with the stables and horses, he went to his chambers and washed himself before going to the great hall to clean it. He met Arthur on the way, the prince was chatting with a woman in the same age, Merlin find himself feeling rather jealous of the woman.

"Oh, hi there Merlin.", Arthur said and nodded to his servant. "This is my servant Merlin and Merlin, this is Alice, she is a princess from the province of Winterheld." he said and Alice looked at Merlin and smiled.  
>"My prince, my princess." Merlin said and bowed to the royal pair. "Will see you later Merlin, I still have to dress for the evening." Arthur said, wanting Merlin to brush off and Merlin nodded and bowed before he went away to the great hall to clean.<p>

When he was finished with all of his work he felt rather exhausted but the evening had just begun. He managed his way to Arthur's chambers and once he was there, he sank down on the prince's bed with a loud sigh. Suddenly, the door opened and Merlin jerked, quickly getting off the bed.

"Hello Merlin." Arthur said while he walked in the room and Merlin waved to him, feeling his heart beat speed up a bit. The prince sure knew how to make people fall in love with him.

"Getting me dressed now are we?", Arthur said and walked to his wardrobe, Merlin by his side. "Yes, of course." Merlin said and looked for some nice clothes in the wardrobe. "Happy birthday by the way." the servant added and patted on Arthur's shoulder.  
>"Thank you Merlin, although I do not feel so happy with ageing, I don't want to loose my nice features you know." the prince said with a laugh and Merlin smiled brightly. "Nah, me neither." Merlin said and pulled some clothes off from the wardrobe. "Do you want to wear these today on your birthday?" he asked and showed his prince a blue tunic, with matching pants and the typical long red Camelot cloak with the lion on the back.<p>

"Looks great Merlin, thank you." Arthur smiled and Merlin started to undress Arthur, his heart pounding loud in his head, he was afraid that Arthur would hear it. Merlin slowly unbuttoned Arthur's shirt, his cheeks flushing a little, thankfully though Arthur seemed not noticing it. When Arthur's shirt was off, Merlin made his way to Arthur's pants but suddenly Arthur's hand had wormed it's way around Merlin's wrist. "I will take care of those myself..." Arthur said and dressed himself behind the dressing pane. Merlin frowned, all other times he had been allowed to take all Arthur's clothes off (expect his boxers). He shrugged and decided to let it be.

Some minutes later Arthur came out from the dressing pane and stood before his servant. His already golden hair was highlighted by the blue colour of the tunic and the read cloak strengthened his blue eyes even more. Merlin was close to start drooling, but he eventually managed to not.

"Is this alright?" Arthur asked and spun around to show his clothes from different angles.

"Yes yes, you look very nice Arthur!" Merlin said and nodded.  
>"Good, then maybe I can flirt with Alicia...", Arthur said with a smirk and Merlin just nodded, feeling a little hurt. He wanted Arthur to flirt with him...<p>

"Shouldn't you wear this? It will fit very well with your clothes." Merlin asked to change the subject, he held out Arthur's crown.  
>"Oh, very nice idea of you Merlin!" Arthur exclaimed. He bowed down his head in front of Merlin and Merlin laid the crown on Arthur's head, feeling all warm inside his chest. He longed to the day he would see Arthur standing before him with Uther's crown.<p>

Arthur turned around and looked at himself in the mirror. "Oh, I do look really nice." he smirked and winked at himself. Merlin laughed. "You sure do..." he whispered to himself.

"Now then **Mer**l_in_, have you really finished all of your work?", Arthur said and looked suspiciously at his servant.

"Yep, I sure have!" Merlin said with his goofy smile, looking proud.

"You never are finished." Arthur said with a evil smile. "I have one last assignment for you before all the guests arrive, you need to go out to the armoury and fetch my sword."

"You serious? I have been working...!" Merlin started but he was interrupted by Arthur pressing him against the wall. "Uh... Arthur?", Merlin stuttered.

"I'm your prince and you are under my obedience, capishe?" Arthur said, staring into Merlin's blue eyes with his own blue blobs.

"Yes, yes my prince..." Merlin coughed out and Arthur released him, leaving the room. Merlin sank down a minute on the floor, his heart beating like furious and his head spinning.  
>"<em>I thought he was... going to kiss me...<em>" Merlin thought and was near to fainting. He took some deep breaths before standing up. He made his way to the armoury, not knowing what was going to happen...


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin was now standing in front of the place where Arthur's sword usually stands, but the sword was nowhere to be found. The servant scratched his head and pondered a bit. Where had Arthur had his sword the last time he trained...?

A bulb pinged above Merlin's head when he remembered where the sword was, out in the paddock! The servant had forgotten it when his prince had demanded him to hurry up the other day. Merlin quickly made his way to the paddock and on his way there, he felt a gut feeling that someone was watching him and also the heavens had decided to cry. The rain splashed hard against Merlin's slim body and thin clothes, he started running the short route that was left. When he finally arrived, he saw a pair of amber eyes staring at him from the paddock. Merlin swallowed, already scared to death and slowly opened the gate. The pair of eyes came closer and a small sliver of the moon's rays revealed a big, black wolf standing right beside the sword. It's eyes were burning with hunger and it smelled of wet fur. Long fangs stuck out from it's mouths, it opened it's mouth in a deep growl, only to reveal more long and sharp teeth. Merlin gasped in fear and backed away from it, whimpering a little. The wolf raised itself on two legs and Merlin became frozen in shock and fear, tumbling down on the ground. He tried to think of some exploding spell but he couldn't come up with any. The wolf growled once again and started to run towards Merlin.

"NO!", Merlin screamed and tried to protect himself with his bare hands, crawling in a fetal position on the wet and muddy ground. Suddenly Merlin felt the wolf's warm breath puffing in his face, he opened his eyes and saw the amber eyes staring into him, into his soul.

"_You are mine now."_, he heard the werewolf growling inside of his head and an indescribable pain exploded on Merlin's left shoulder when he saw the wolf's white teeth biting through the thin flesh. Blood gushed from the wound and Merlin shrieked in pain, big black blobs danced before his eyes and he almost fainted. The werewolf mauled his shoulder and pain was overwhelming Merlin until he fainted by it.

Arthur was waiting impatiently for Merlin back in his chambers, his foot stamping nervously on the wooden floor. Where had his servant gone off to? He hoped he hadn't scared him. The hours passed by and Arthur forced himself to go to the great hall without Merlin. He greeted all the guests and received their presents with smiles and congratulations, thinking of Merlin in hours and hours. He never saw his goofy smiled servant returning that day, on his 19th birthday.


	3. Chapter 3

The big, bright full moon basked it's light down at the forests surrounding Camelot. A peculiar blue-eyed wolf, looked up at the moon, thinking about who it was and how it came to be here, in this place at this moment. A deep hunger burned in the wolf's stomach but the wolf didn't want to pay notice to the burning inside him. He laid down at the soft, green moss and sighed. He couldn't remember who he had been before he found himself waking up here. _Why?_ He asked himself and looked up to the moon again, wondering while the hunger spread it way through his body, slowly starting to poison the wolf's mind. Some minutes later, the wolf raised himself up from the ground on unsteady feet and started to walk towards an unknown goal. He sniffed at the ground and found some rags of some sort, he sniffed at them and it was like a lightning had struck the wolf's mind. He, the wolf was Merlin and he was a servant to prince Arthur and they had a great destiny together and his purpose was to save Arthur from danger. Memories of the last days flashed before his eyes, _Arthur's birthday preparations -_ _him in the forest, seeing the werewolf for the first time - the big black werewolf, mauling him in the paddock – his first transformation pain blood screaming_... Merlin closed his eyes and tried to shake the memories off but they still flew around in his head. He started to run through the forest while thoughts of why he had been so careless flew out and around in his mind. Merlin felt the weird hunger starting to burn stronger inside him, his long nose suddenly raised itself up in the air and he heard how it scented by itself, suddenly he was standing almost upright but in a hunched position. Before him was a small boy, frozen in fear. He recognized the boy from Camelot. It was like he saw himself from behind or from a window, he saw a big, muscular, black furred wolf, standing on it's hind legs with blue eyes burning with rage before the small boy. The werewolf stretched out it's long arms with sharp claws and grabbed the boys shoulders, opening it's large jaw and tore the boys head off, sucking the blood that poured from the beheaded neck. Merlin felt sick, wanting to throw up but he couldn't, the hunger inside him was too overwhelming and he heard himself munching on the boys flesh, felt the still warm blood spewing in his furred face. When he was finished, he licked the blood away from his nose and landed on all fours. He started to run again.

"_Very good job little one... That was your first prey that I had prepared for you._" a dark voice spoke inside Merlin's head. He recognized the voice from the werewolf attack.

"_Why have you turned me into this monster?" _Merlin shouted back to the voice and stopped with his running.

"_Hush now little one, I want you to come to me. We need to speak as I have much to tell you."_ the voice said and Merlin couldn't refuse, the authority in the voice was too much, he felt his legs turning into jelly by the power of the voice.

"_How do I come to you?"_ Merlin asked with disgust.

"_No worries."_ the voice answered and Merlin could see a wolf's silhouette coming out from a grove filled with moonlight. The wolf, now fully seen, had a bright sand colored fur and golden eyes with long sharp teeth sticking out from it's mouth. It was much bigger than Merlin with fully seen muscles and Merlin saw at once that it wasn't the same as the wolf that had attacked him. The sand colored wolf walked up to Merlin and jerked it's head, wanting Merlin to follow it.

"_Who are you?"_ Merlin asked the sand wolf inside his head before started to follow it, thinking this was the way to communicate.

"_I'm Aren, a subordinate to the leader." _the sand wolf Aren answered, his voice was more soft than the black wolf's.

Merlin nodded to his answer, didn't know what to say. After a while he said:  
><em>"I'm Merlin, a wizard..."<em>

Aren seemed to think this was very funny since his straight mouth turned into a funny looking wolf grin.

"_Do you know why he turned me into a werewolf?"_ Merlin asked Aren, referring to the werewolf he thought was the leader.

"_You will get everything explained to you when we get there."_ the sand wolf answered and together the two werewolves walked in silence.

Arthur was kneeling before his father, asking permission to search for Merlin once again.

"Son, we can buy a new servant for you. A servant is just a servant, nothing more." Uther said and looked sternly at his son. Arthur bit his lip and raised himself from the floor while his gaze rested on his fathers eyes.  
>"Merlin isn't just a servant father, he is my friend and I want to find him and get him back to safety!" Arthur said, pitching his voice a little but still keeping it calm.<p>

"A servant? Your friend?" Uther said mockingly and laughed a bit.

"No Arthur! I don't want you to go out in the forest, period!" Uther growled to his son and Arthur nodded immediately.

"Yes father..." Arthur said with a fast nod and then exited the kings throne room. He went to his room and sat down on the bed, sighing deeply and ran his fingers through his golden hair.

"_What should I do?" _ he thought angrily and punched himself on his thigh. Suddenly he heard that someone knocked on the door. He sighed once again and opened the door.  
>"Yes?", he said and looked at the person in front of him. It was Morgana and Gaius.<p>

"Morgana and Gaius? What are you doing here?" Arthur asked a bit shocked and looked at them.  
>"We are just as worried for Merlin as you are and we want to help you Arthur!" Gaius said and Morgana nodded, agreeing with the old man.<p>

"So, what do you intend to do? Father will have his eye frozen at me now because you know and he know that I have sneaked out before." Arthur said and closed the door behind his friends.

"We know Arthur but we can easily help you to sneak out. I can make a potion that will make you appear spectral for two minutes. That time would be enough to get you out of here." Gaius said and smiled shortly.

"Make me appear spectral?" Arthur said and frowned. "You are not using magic, are you?" he said suspiciously and frowned. Morgana sighed.

"Of course he is not using magic Arthur!" she said. "He can't even use magic!" she added and Gaius nodded.

"Do you want this bait or not? We will make sure you get out from Camelot's walls safely and Morgana will join you in your search." Gaius asked. Arthur thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes... but what will you say to father if he suspect something?" he asked. "I will tell him you got to bed early and me, myself, will stay here to make sure he doesn't sneak around in your room." Gaius said. Arthur nodded for an answer and then turned to Morgana.

"Can you go and prepare the horses?" he asked and she nodded. "Of course." she said and hurried her way out to the stables.

"Gaius, how long will it take to make the potion?" Arthur then asked and looked at the old man. "I've already make it." Gaius said with a grin and Arthur smiled at him. "Great!" the prince said and Gaius took out a blue potion out from his inside pocket of his robe and gave it to Arthur.

"You need to sit down while drinking the potion." Gaius said and carefully helped Arthur down onto the bed. Arthur nodded and opened the cork, putting the opening of the potion to his mouth and started to drink it. The taste was very bitter and Arthur felt his stomach wince by the gross taste. All of a sudden Arthur found himself feeling more light than before, it felt like he was sitting on clouds and he looked at his hands, seeing right through them. The sight startled him.  
>"Now take it easy my prince, sit here for a few seconds more..." Gaius said and Arthur nodded, waiting a few more seconds before raising himself.<br>"Thank you so much Gaius, I will be in your debt." Arthur said before he sheathed a sword in it's scabbard and put a red cloak around his spectral body.

Arthur made a successful way out from the castle, when he arrived at the stables where Morgana waited, the potion had stopped working just in time.  
>"I see that you made your way out." Morgana smiled and Arthur nodded. "Indeed I did." he said and sat up on his horse and Morgana did the same.<p>

"Let's make our way out and look for Merlin." he said and Morgana nodded. Together, they started riding out to the werewolf infested forests on the full moon night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I'm glad to say that this story is alive again! I'm on vacation and I suddenly got a strike of inspiration today to the next chapter of this story so I just had to go in and write it! I hope you will like it and I'm so sorry that you have been forced to wait such a long time for this chapter to happen! So sorry for that! I promise you won't have to wait so long time again. c: **(I doubt I have any readers left on this though xD;)** Introducing some more of my OC's in this chapter, sorry if you don't like it. And I promise Merlin won't be together with one of my OC's!**

**Please read and review! xoxo**

**edit: I can't edit chapter 1 2 or 3 so I will tell you here. English is not my native language so I'm sorry if there is some grammar or spelling mistakes! I try my best though! xoxo**

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><p>When Merlin and the wolf called Aren had walked for a long time, the other wolf stopped and nodded with it's head to a moss covered stone.<p>

"_Here it is_." Aren said and put his right paw on a moss covered stone. Suddenly a loud crack could be heard and the stonewall before them opened itself. Stairs started to shape from the sudden visible stone floor and Aren gave Merlin an impatient look.  
>"<em>Come on." <em>he said and together they walked down the weird stone stairs. After walking through darkness for about ten minutes the werewolves finally saw some light from a couple of torches.  
>"<em>Where are we?<em>" Merlin asked Aren through his mind and the other werewolf looked at him with his golden eyes.  
>"<em>At our den. You will meet the Leader soon and you will have everything explained to you.<em>" the sand coloured wolf said and Merlin nodded for an answer. The two wolves walked for a bit and after a while they came to a big hall with torches sitting on the sides of the walls, all alight. In the back of the hall, a big, golden crested throne was standing proudly. A black silhouette was sitting on the throne. Red orbs suddenly glowed in the dim light and they made Merlin shudder a little. Merlin suddenly felt himself drawn to the silhouette, wanting to be close to it. He walked up to the silhouette and stared at it.

"_Hello? I'm... Merlin..._" he said nervously with his mind to the silhouette, suddenly, large white teeth glinted in front of him.

"_Hello Merlin._" a thick voice said inside the servants head and Merlin stared at the large wolf in front of him. The wolf was much larger than an average horse and it's paws was as big as Merlin's head.

"_Uhm... Hello."_ said Merlin nervously and he heard Aren coming up from behind, feeling his gaze looking at him with golden gleaming eyes.

"_I am your leader, I am the one that transformed you._", the gigantic wolf said with its deep voice filled with authority. Merlin sank down to the ground by the heavy authority the other wolf wear in its whole being.

"_Good, that is very good my dear pup. I am your leader and it is only right of you to kneel in front of me." _the wolf said and Merlin pushed himself even more to the hard and cold stone floor, it was almost as the leader wanted him to sink through it.

"_Give him some freedom.",_ Aren suddenly snapped to the bigger wolf and Merlin could suddenly feel the overwhelming authority that lingered over his whole being easing up a little. Still, he didn't dare to move yet.

/_How did Aren dare to even speak to this creature?/ - _Merlin thought worriedly, staring down at the floor.

"_Raise my pup. We have many things to talk about._" the Leader said and Merlin could finally get up on his paws. The servant raised himself from the ground and looked right into the Leader's eyes, which wasn't a very good idea. The leader bared it teeth while a low growl emerging from his throat could be heard.

"_Never look a wolf into its eyes!", _Aren discreetly thought to Merlin and Merlin quickly looked at the Leader's throat instead, which could be perceived as an invite to a challenge. The leader growled furiously and attacked Merlin, forcing him down to the ground with his fangs hard closed around Merlin's throat. Merlin let out a loud whimper when the leader's teeth sank through his soft meat.

"_Stop it Leader! He doesn't know any better! He is still a human at heart!_", Aren shouted to the Leader with whimpers and growls. Merlin could feel how the other wolf's bite eased up and finally let him go, he took a deep breath of air before sinking down to the ground again, exhausted by the sudden turn of events. The leader just snorted and whipped with his tail before he forced Merlin up to stand again.

"_Never do that again, if you do, I will kill you._" the leader said with a chilling voice to Merlin and Merlin nodded in response.

"_I promise._", he said.

"_Good my pup. Now, Merlin, I want you to go on a hunt with me and Aren before I will introduce you to the rest of our family and tell you why I transformed you into one of us.", _the Leader said, still with ice in his voice, but still a bit warmer than ice, it was more of a slow, melting ice.

"_O-okay._", Merlin replied, unsure of what to say. His throat stung by pain and he could smell the thick, metallic-like smell of blood.

"_Very well." _the Leader said, walking a lap round Merlin before making his way to the exit with his large paws making loud thuds while he walked gracefully. It was a little funny that he was able to walk so gracefully with such large paws, Merlin thought.  
><em>"Aren, get Zoë here to help my pup's throat heal up a bit.<em>", the Leader added before he was gone, out in the moonlit forest. The sand coloured wolf nodded before quickly disappearing as well, leaving Merlin alone. A couple of minutes later, Aren returned with a snow-white wolf following him. Her snow-white fur almost seemed to glow in the dark hall and her blue eyes were like fireflies, only blue to their colour. Merlin found himself thinking she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

"_Hello there, new blood._", a voice, soft as honey sung inside Merlin's head. The warlock felt a bit exposed and embarrassed under his fur when the white wolf's eyes surveyed his whole body.

"_Uhm... Hi..._", Merlin replied with his thoughts, afraid she would hear his other more secret thoughts. Zoë licked her lips and sat down in front of him, staring at his wounds.

"_I find it funny that our Leader wound the new bloods only to make me come over and heal them up again._", she said more to herself than to the other werewolves. She leaned in to Merlin's profusely bleeding throat, the servant could feel warmth spreading through his whole body as her tongue carefully licked the blood from his wound. The warmth almost took over his system, he found it hard not to let out a loud whine.

"_What is happening? What is she doing?_", Merlin asked Aren with a scared voice, these weird feelings and warmth was new to him.

"_It is just her way to heal others. I can't explain it thoroughly, it is hard to explain. Just relax, the things you are feeling will disappear as soon __as she is finished with you._", Aren replied softly, preventing any other than Merlin to hear his reply. Merlin closed his eyes, trying with his whole being not to give in to these rare feelings that swirled around in him. And just like that, Zoë was finished with her healing and Merlin's tense body relaxed.

"_You're something special, new blood. The other new blood's I have healed in the past always overthrew me with their dirty thoughts, but you managed to stay still. Good job._", Zoë said to the confused warlock with a soft voice before she went back to the way she had come from.

Merlin stared at the place where she had sat before he got disturbed by Aren's laughter, somehow he was able to laugh, or at least it sounded like laughter. Puffs and snorts. Quick breaths.

"_Come now Merlin, the Leader is waiting._", Aren said to the even more confused warlock which nodded as an answer. He had to obey the Leader's subordinate after all. He had actually started to like being with Aren.

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><p>"Arthur, did you hear that?", Morgana asked to her brother as she heard a branch crack somewhere near them. Her horse clipped with its ears and gave off a soft whinny. It had heard it as well. The prince looked at Morgana and shook his head.<p>

"No, I didn't hear anything.", he said with a wrinkled forehead.

"I am sure I heard a branch break somewhere.", she said determined and Arthur nodded though a branch breaking could be anything from a rabbit to a bear.

"I will go and look over there.", Morgana said and pointed where the sound had come from before she spurred her horse. Arthur sighed before spurring his horse and following after her.

"Do you think we will find him?", Arthur asked her while they were riding toward the 'branch cracking' direction which Morgana so nice called it.

"I do. We just need some time to track him.", she replied.

"I hope we will find him, I don't want any other manservant.", Arthur started to say before he got interrupted by a loud howl somewhere close to them.

"Is it a wolf?", Morgana asked scared, her horse snorting nervously as the cold howl got even louder.

"I think so. I have got my crossbow ready.", Arthur said as they steered their horses to the direction to what they thought were wolves. The howling got even louder as they galloped through the thick forest and Arthur thought he saw a silhouette of Merlin running in front of him. "Merlin?", he called out in the moonlit forest, but his manservant didn't recall his shout.

"Over there! A wolf! A gigantic wolf!", Morgana hissed between her teeth, pointing to where she saw the biggest wolf she had even seen to her brother, Arthur saw the pitch-black wolf as well and he felt a knife of fear and fascination stab his stomach. Uther would be so proud of him if he could bring this gigantic wolf back to the castle, though it was the biggest wolf he had ever seen in his whole life, it was bigger than his horse.

"Shoot it! Shoot it! Before it sees us!", Morgana hissed to him and he readied his crossbow, aimed on a vulnerable spot on the wolf and shot off an poisoned arrow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here is another chapter of my fanfiction, I hope you will like it! And you know what, I know that Merlin ate the flesh of a boy in some of the other chapters, but let's just forget about that, okay? Yes? Okay? Yes. Good. Enjoy this chapter please, and don't forget to R&R! :)**

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><p>The swallows flew screaming from their nests when the arrow that Arthur had fired bumped into the tree they have just gone to sleep in.<br>"Nice aim!" Morgana hissed angrily at his brother.  
>"I know that I aimed correctly! I was aiming towards the wolf!", he growled angrily and looked to where the wolf had been just a second ago.<br>Now, it was gone. Morgana shook furiously on her head before she jumped off her horse and ran to the spot where the wolf had been. She looked down at the ground and found a giant paw print in the green moss.  
>"Look! Over here, Arthur! We can follow these wolf tracks and see if we can find its lair." she said.<br>Arthur nodded, he had completely forgotten that they were here in the woods to look for Merlin, not to track down gigantic wolves, and he jumped off his horse and tied it together with Morgana's horse at a thick tree, then he went to Morgana and together they began two siblings following the wolf's footsteps through the dark forest.

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><p><em>"What are we to hunt?",<em> Merlin asked the Leader cautiously while the werewolves tiptoed quietly among the lush green moss.

_"Humans."_, the Leader replied shortly and Merlin felt his heart beat a frightened beat.

_"People? Why people?"_, Merlin asked with a frightened voice, casting a worried glance at Aren, but the sand-colored wolf did not look back.

_"To officially join us. You have become one of us to the meat but not to the soul."_, replied the leader. _"Therefore you have to eat a man's flesh."_

Merlin nodded slowly in response and felt the familiar feeling of fear spread across his body like a wildfire. Was he really going to eat a human? One of his own species? Would he turn into a real monster now? A cannibal?

_But practically, you are not human anymore Merlin. You are half human. A half-breed._ - he thought bitterly, feeling the pointy ears on his head abolished. How could he continue to live with the thought that he had eaten human flesh? He was disgusted by the mere thought.

_"There! People!"_, said the leader's deep voice suddenly in the other werewolves' heads as he bared his teeth, suddenly flickered a picture of two people dressed in beautiful clothes in front of Merlin's eyes. The first human was a man, he had shaggy blond hair and was quite muscular, he was dressed in a shimmering silver armour and a large red cloak followed his every move. The second human was a woman, she wore a long, dark green silk dress that tightened around her chest and long, wavy black hair that reached down to her stomach. The two humans stood at a wolf den, the blond man knelt in front of it and was about to enter when the black-haired woman put her hand on his shoulder and whispered quietly something in some language Merlin could not understand. His heart was thumping in his chest as he watched the two humans, although he could not understand why it did. He had the feeling that he knew who they were, yet he could not remember having ever seen them before. The image disappeared after a few seconds, Merlin looked around confused on the other werewolves, but they didn't seem as confused as he was. Aren came up next to Merlin's side and pushed him amicably on the nose.

"_It is the leader's ability, he can show pictures of things that are close to him, __in this case, the people we are going to hunt.", _the sand coloured wolf explained and Merlin nodded.

_"I .. I think I know these people ... Do you know who they are?", _Merlin asked then watching Aren. Aren licked his nose quickly, and shook his head before answering.

_"Unfortunately ... I do not know who they are. If I had been a man right now , I probably would have remembered, but everything you did as a human stays in your human form when you become a wolf."_, Aren replied and Merlin thought he recognized it. He remembered how he had not known who he was when he woke up after his first transformation. He found himself wondering how long ago it was he was human, but a sudden growl from the leader interrupted his thoughts.

_"Get yourselves ready.",_ the Leader said quickly, he trotted to the forefront of the group of werewolves and sank down, lying in the moss on top of a small cliff with his tail whipping behind him with excitement. The other werewolves did the same, even Merlin laid himself down, behind Aren.

_"New blood is with me.", _grunted the Leader determined when he noticed were Merlin was seated. Merlin immediately arose, and lay down awkwardly beside the night black, giant wolf.

_"I take the first step.", _the Leader growled and with that, he stood silently up from the moss and began to creep down the ledge with the other werewolves right behind him. Merlin followed him like a dog, the closer they came the people, the harder his heart beat. The Leader suddenly stood up on two legs with a squatting position when he stood behind the humans and the other werewolves did the same, even Aren. The Leader began to growl menacingly and was just going to hit the blonde with his big paw when the man pulled out a sword and yelled menacingly back before he angrily brandished the sword with full force. The Leader quickly turned towards Merlin and took hold of his little body and used him as a shield against the sword. Merlin let out a deafening howl by the immense pain in his stomach when the sword ran through his soft fur and flailed wildly with his legs to escape, which he finally did with a thud on the ground. Aren got Merlin out of the way from the Leader which had dropped down on all fours again to attack the human. The Leader uttered a loud roar to the puny humans who had dared to challenge him.

The young man stood paralysed in front of the werewolf and the Leader raised his arm and hit him so hard that he fell headlong to the ground. The woman with the green dress screamed and grabbed the man's arms and rushed to take him away from the pack with werewolves, but a full grey coloured werewolf that Merlin had not seen before stopped her by throwing himself over her. The grey wolf pressed the woman to the ground, drool dripped around his mouth and fell on the woman, insatiable hunger loose in his dark brown eyes. The Leader rushed to the wounded man and put teeth into his shoulder and began chewing through the meat. The man screamed aloud with pain and tears rolled down his cheeks. Merlin stood shakily up from where Aren had dumped him, blood gushed out of his cuts on his stomach as he stood up, but he could not let this happen. He could not let two innocent people, that he knew somehow, be killed.

_"Stop it! Stop it _please!", he shouted to all the werewolves minds while he ran as fast as his wound allowed him the leader's slaughter of the young man. The werewolves stopped for one second in their excitement when they heard the New blood protest. The Leader turned his crazy eyes to Merlin with his mouth still chewing on his victim's shoulder.

_"Please stop_!", Merlin cried again and the Leader released the young man's shoulder, red blood dripping down his long nose. The man took the chance and ran shakily away with the woman. Merlin's stomach clenched a little bit of hunger when he smelled the scent of blood, but he did not let the hunger for blood take over him. The Leader bared his teeth, which were red with blood and growled at Merlin.

_"You let them escape. Why? It was not my order!", _he growled furiously and loomed over Merlin. The other werewolves were behind the leader and their mouths were pulled up in menacing grins.

_"Because I could not watch while you were killing them! We are still half people, or am I wrong?"_, Merlin replied with more strength than he actually had and he could not understand how he dared to stand up against the Leader, he would almost certainly be killed later. A deep growl was heard from the Leader and the other werewolves joined in, the Leader barred his claws and slowly opened his mouth, still growling, staring at the Merlin with glowing amber eyes.

_"You are going to be punished."_, the Leader's voice echoed in Merlin's head and the pitch black leader wolf's authority was so strong that Merlin was forced down to the ground.

_"Let's go home and I do not want to see any of you except Merlin the rest of the night, got it?"_, the Leader added, the werewolves nodded and began to walk with their gaze toward the ground. Thoughts of disappointment flashed through their minds.

_"Meet me outside our lair, when you get there."_, the Leader growled with a last glance at Merlin before he abruptly turned around and began to trot away through the dark forest. Merlin took a deep breath and tried to calm his panic-stricken heart before he also went back to the den, though much slower than the others because of his wound. A minute later, Zoë met him and on the way back to the lair she healed his wounds as best she could.

* * *

><p>"Heavens! Arthur, Morgana, are you alright?", Gaius called out, horrified when he saw the two dishevelled siblings enter his abode.<p>

"Yes ... But Arthur has received a terrible wolf bite on his shoulder.", Morgana said concerned. Arthur's face was white and he was leaning heavily on her shoulder. His breathing was heavy and laboured, and the wound on the shoulder was still bleeding.

"A wolf bite? What did the wolf look like?", Gaius asked concerned and helped Morgana to bring Arthur down on his bed. He started to collect plenty of bandages and a tube of any strong liquid to help Arthur, while he searched frantically in his thick book of various fantasy creatures. He gave the tube and bandages to Morgana and she began to wash the prince's wound. Arthur clenched his teeth in pain when Morgana bathed the wound with liquid from the tube.

"It was a ... very large wolf, I've never seen anything like it. Maybe I was scared, but I think it stood up on two legs, though it could not stand fully upright and used another smaller wolf as a shield ... "said Morgana, frowning as she recounted what she had seen. Arthur said nothing. Gaius paged his book and looked up the section on werewolves. He sighed heavily and uneasily and looked out his window at the silver shining moon before he opened his mouth and said:

"I think Arthur has been bitten by a werewolf."


End file.
